The Paris stock market ended the first session of the week with a modest 0.2% gain, closing at 8,211 points, buoyed by Eurofins Scientific (+8.3%), Thales (+4.7%), and Bureau Veritas (+2.9%).
Meanwhile, the DAX advanced by 1.3%, lifted by Rheinmetall's +9.4% and Infineon's +4.3%.

Across the Atlantic, markets kicked off the week with optimism: the Dow Jones rose 1.3%, outpacing the Nasdaq (+0.9%) and the S&P500 (+0.8%).
Investors appeared particularly calm following the surprise operation led by the United States in Venezuela and the deportation of the South American president to New York.

By carrying out this bold move, Washington signaled to the world its intent to maintain its superpower status, notably through control over global energy resources.

On a more pragmatic note, the decision reflects America's determination to bring its major oil companies back to a country where infrastructure is deemed degraded and oil reserves remain largely underexploited: the American financial and technological embargo imposed on Venezuela for the past decade has proven highly effective.

For now, the reaction in oil prices has been extremely muted: WTI initially fell by 1% before rebounding symmetrically by +1% (58 USD per barrel), and Brent also gained 1.3% to 61.6 USD.

"Venezuelan oil exports remain modest and there is no indication at this stage that the situation will cause disruptions in production or sales," Danske Bank analysts noted this morning.

Venezuela was one of the few countries to price its oil in currencies other than the dollar (notably in yuan): those who attempted this (Iraq, Libya) met unfortunate ends. The greenback is unmoved, trading at 1.17 USD against the euro.

The reaction from Asian stock markets may be even more telling. In Tokyo, the Nikkei surged nearly 3% by the end of Monday's session, and the MSCI index grouping Asia-Pacific stocks climbed over 1.2%.
But this serenity may be only skin-deep, as evidenced by a +4% spike in silver towards 77 USD and a +2.5% rise in gold to around 4,450 USD per ounce.

Investors seem determined to start 2026 by clinging to the well-known adage that the first month of the year is often positive for stock indices, a phenomenon known as the "January effect."

Goldman Sachs is forecasting a slight acceleration in eurozone growth for 2026, driven by German fiscal stimulus and resilient consumption, despite increased Chinese competition and interest rates maintained at their current levels.

The eurozone economy is expected to grow by 1.3% in 2026, supported by three major cyclical drivers: Germany's fiscal expansion, easing global trade tensions, and robust real household income growth, according to the bank.

However, this momentum will be limited by structural headwinds, notably the surge in Chinese exports weighing on the industrial competitiveness of Italy and Germany, as well as high energy costs.

On the data front, the contraction of the U.S. manufacturing sector slightly worsened at the end of last year, according to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), whose index for the sector just came out at 47.9 for December 2025, compared to 48 the previous month.
The real test will come Friday with the release of December employment figures, a market favorite and all the more closely watched since the Fed has explicitly made the labor market a key factor in shaping its monetary policy.

This will be followed by the kickoff of "earnings season" with the first quarterly results from major banks, including JP Morgan.

Strategists warn that listed companies will need to deliver profit growth to justify the high valuations of American stocks, but the prospect of both earnings growth and confirmation of U.S. economic resilience would certainly pave the way for further strong performances in 2026.

On the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Bund, which had peaked on Friday, January 2, eased slightly, down -1.5 basis points to 2.883%, while the French OAT of the same maturity dropped -2.5 points to 3.5860%, and Italian BTPs -3.6 points to 3.54%.

In French corporate news, BNP Paribas reported it had reached an "important milestone" in integrating its asset management activities following the acquisition of AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM), which was finalized over six months ago.
Crédit Agricole today announced the redemption, effective January 26, 2026, of all its senior non-preferred fixed-to-floating rate notes issued on January 26, 2021, for an amount of 1.5 billion dollars.

Sanofi stated that the U.S. FDA has accepted for priority review its supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for Tzield (teplizumab-mzwv) for young children with stage 2 type 1 diabetes.

Alstom has won three orders totaling 2.5 billion euros. Specifically, the smart and sustainable mobility specialist has been selected to supply rolling stock to a client in the Americas region for approximately 1.4 billion euros.

Saint-Gobain has formed a joint venture with a subsidiary of Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa (an Indonesian cement producer 53% owned by Heidelberg Materials), with the French group holding 60% and its local partner 40%. The aim of this joint venture is to acquire Indocement's mortar activities in Indonesia.

Finally, Oddo BHF reiterated its "outperform" rating and price target of 236 EUR on Airbus Group, "a stock set to benefit from the gradual improvement of the supply chain and ongoing work on the agility of its industrial operations."